Perhaps Juliar and the girls will join him?

‘TONY Abbott has joined a NSW bushfire strike team helping to try to contain a fire that has threatened homes on the NSW south coast.
The Opposition Leader has delayed his annual holiday and will for the next three days join the Sydney-based Davidson Rural Fire Brigade on bushfire watch near Nowra.
His crew will help dozens of other teams back-burning and hazard reduction burning during today’s milder conditions, and will stay until Friday.
“Look, I’m just one of 65 in this crew and part of thousands across the country,” Mr Abbott said.
Mr Abbott has been a volunteer with his local brigade since 2000, served as its deputy captain before becoming opposition leader in 2009 and has previously been directly involved with fighting fires…’ sourceNo? Then perhaps they’ll join him when he does his unpaid and un-publicised work in remote Aboriginal communities? Wabbit is no fan of politicians of any stripe, but this man is worth a hundred Gillards and Roxons.

This is one of the reasons I really, genuinely admire Abbott (one of about 1 politicians globally deserving of admiration). With any other polly, this would be blatant politicking – disaster tourism (Bush in New Orleans, or King Barry in New Jersey, or Ju-Liar in QLD a couple years ago) – but with Abbott he’s the real deal. He’s a volunteer firefighter, who genuinely serves fighting fires. He’s a surf lifesaver, who genuinely serves actually saving people from drowning. He spends his annual vacation (or 2 weeks of it at least) each year working in Aboriginal camps in the outback.

He’s going to make a fine Prime Minister. If only he can cut Mal Turnbull’s tongue out.

Not so far, mate. But if we get a big fire out this way it’ll move very fast indeed. The winds are around 30-40kmh every day and the place is very, very dry.
The locals can’t believe it hasn’t happened yet, but the forecast suggests we may get a couple of electrical storms soon and if they’re not accompanied by rain, then fires are a certainty.
Time to buy some marshmallows?
Our weather:http://www.weatherzone.com.au/qld/nth-goldfields/richmond

I live about 10 ks from where the fires were on the South Coast ( I live in a town called Manyana ).As it happened yesterday I was on our back porch watching the smoke get more dense and larger. We received recorded messages from the RFS to get ready to evacuate.Bendalong Rd was closed in the arvo ( so we couldn’t leave anyway ) and also the Princess Hwy was closed so no one could go to Nowra. I just sat out there on the porch and drank icy cold beers all arvo keeping my ear on the updates.It was a bit hot ( over 40 degrees Celcius ) and a bit windy ( about 40ks ) but we were not in any strife .Did enjoy watching the helocopters buzzing around and I got a little pickled.
D.T.

Also concerning Tony Abbott , this is the same mob ( ALP ) that called it a stunt when he was going to drive from Brisbane to Sydney in a truck ….for people that are suppose to represent the ” worker ” they despise people for being a ‘ Worker”.
D.T.

The ALP and their militant wing the union movement stopped representing “the worker” many years ago, D.T.

Glad the burn passed you by; I was in VIC on Black Saturday – not too far from the Dandenongs, so I know what *hot* feels like. I gotta say, it’s bloody nice to be home in NZ where a hot day is 30, and I can go swimming whenever I feel like!

Swimming? In NZ? With the seals and penguins?
The sea temperature off the Kimberly and in the Coral sea is around 31c….and anything less is polar bear territory.
I got sick and tired of being cold in NZ. There were a few summers, but I think I was at work or something at the time and missed them.

No sharks? Geddoffit! I was a very keen game fisherman in NZ and lost track of the number of big makos we caught. And blue sharks and whalers. And there sure as hell are plenty of white sharks in the cooler waters down south.
Why they tend not to eat Kiwis is a mystery, though. But we won’t go there.

Well, maybe he was trying to tell you you should trade the stick-n-rag set up for a proper boat, mawm.

Or maybe he admired your boat so much he wanted it for himself?

Or maybe he was a *Maori* Threasher, and was simply making a claim under the Treaty? A little koha delivered in the form of snapper would probably have greased his fin enough to allow you safe passage.

And, the Waitemata Harbour is a pretty big playground. I’ve never seen any near the (popular) beaches, but I guess if you get out the back of Great Barrier it becomes their house and were just visitors?

I’m with you on that point KG. I did go into the water on 1st & 2nd Jan (the first reasonably warm days here in Auckland) at Kohimarama Beach and Okahu Bay, but exited pretty quickly, complete with shrinkage. Holidays in Queensland, Hawaii, Florida & Bermuda have spoiled me for swimming in lil old NZ (other than in my indoor heated pool ).

‘I believe that politicians, lawyers, busy-bodies and do-gooders are like salamis- greatly improved by hanging for a time.’ Oswald Bastable

"The loss of freedom is like cancer; it will spread slowly but surely across all parts of society until our liberty has been utterly eaten away and we are left with nothing but a half-forgotten idea of what freedom was."